Astronomy researchers from several US universities have joined a campaign coordinated by US Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG) to pause low Earth satellite launches and convince the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reconsider exempting swarms of small satellites from environmental review requirements.
Astronomers from Princeton University, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Arizona, among others, have added their names to a public letter that will be presented at some point to FCC space bureau chief Julie Kearney.
The letter asks the FCC to follow prior recommendations from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which in 2022 issued a report calling for the telecom regulator to revisit its decision to exempt large constellations of satellites from environmental review.
The exemption was created way back in 1986, when far fewer satellites were being launched. The GAO, however, urged the FCC to review the exemption, citing the recent proliferation of satellites and the questions that have been raised about the sustainability of the exemption.
That recommendation was recently echoed by US PIRG, which earlier this month made a similar request to the FCC.
US PIRG notes that the number of satellites in low Earth orbit has increased by a factor of 127 over the past five years, driven largely by the deployment of mega-constellations of communications satellites from SpaceX’s Starlink subsidiary.
Launching large numbers of small satellites presents potential pollution and safety risks, and spoils stargazing. With 6,000 SpaceX satellites in orbit – a number planned to reach 40,000 in a few years – and a satellite lifespan of just five years, US PIRG expects tons of satellite debris will be burned daily upon re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. That’s in addition to the pollution caused by satellite launches, which US PIRG projects will be “equivalent to seven million diesel dump trucks circling the globe each year.”
The advocacy group’s lobbying has been endorsed by several astronomers, and US PIRG is also seeking support from the public.
“We don’t know the long-term effects of the huge number of proposed satellites on our ozone, climate, and environment,” argued Samantha Lawler, associate professor of astronomy at University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada, in a statement. “What we do know is relying on a decades-old decision to exclude 50,000 satellites from environmental review defies common sense.”
In addition to Lawler, signatories include: Minkwan Kim from University of Southampton (lead researcher on the first international study into the environmental impact of space debris disposal using atmospheric ablation); Joshua Reding, AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the National Science Foundation; and Roohi Dalal from the Outer Space Institute.
SpaceX, which oversees Starlink, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ®
